WAREHAM — Darien Fernandez claimed he had no idea he was staring at a school scoring record. At least not until his head coach offered his congratulations to the Wareham senior just prior to the record shot.

Fernandez became the all-time leading boys scorer in Wareham history when he hit the first of two free throws with 1:01 left in the third quarter of last night's 66-51 victory over visiting Fairhaven. It was the senior's second scoring milestone of the season; the first coming six weeks ago when he scored his 1,000th career point, also against Fairhaven.

"We hadn't talked about it (the record) all week in practice and there was no talk about it either prior to or during the game," coach Kevin Brogioli said. "I knew how many points he needed and when he got fouled after tying the record, I walked over to him in the huddle and offered him my congratulations. He just looked at me and said, 'for what?' And, I told him he was about to become the school's all-time leading boys scorer when he made his first free throw."

Fernandez appeared stunned.

"I had to idea what he was talking about when he congratulated me but, after he did, all I could think about was 'oh boy, the pressure's on. What if I miss?'"

He didn't.

And, after the first of his two successful free throws hit nothing but net, the game was stopped while Fernandez accepted congratulations from his teammates and the pro-Wareham crowd.

Needing 21 points to break the record of 1,224 points held by Aaron Strothers since the 2007 season, Fernandez finished the night with a game-high 22 points to raise his career-total to 1,225.

"I'll pass on that one and focus on trying to help this team win the (South Coast) Conference championship," Fernandez said.

With the win, Wareham improved to 12-1 overall and 10-0 in the conference. The Vikings entered the night with a one-game lead over once-beaten Case and will travel to Swansea for a Wednesday night battle against the Cardinals.

A 10-point explosion by Fernandez led Wareham to a 16-11 lead after one quarter and a 20-8 second-quarter edge stretched the Vikings lead to 17 (36-19) at the half. Fernandez had 15 points at the break and, from that point on, the focus was on the latter's assault on the record.

His 17th point came on a jumper that stretched the Wareham lead to 47-27 with 3:12 left in the quarter and Fernandez tied the record with his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 1:12 remaining. Eleven seconds later the cat-quick guard was fouled after stealing a pass, setting up the record shot.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Fernandez converted eight of 18 shots from the floor and was 2-for-2 from the foul line. On the night, Wareham hit 26 of 57 shots for 46 percent while Fairhaven connected on 18 of 51 shots for 35 percent. Fairhaven turned the ball over 10 times to 15 for Wareham.

NOTES: The Vikings played the game without starting center Jeff Houde, who was serving the first of a five-game suspension. The 6-5 senior is eligible to return for the Feb. 15 game against Apponequet. ... Fernandez and Vasconcellos combined for nine 3-pointers. The five by Vasconcellos marked the fifth time the junior has hit for five-or-more in a game this season. His high is six. ... Wareham won the junior varsity game by a score of 70-11. ... Billy Pires scored just eight points for Fairhaven, but the 5-9 senior was all over the floor and did a nice job of rebounding off the defensive boards.